Preoperative diagnosis of thyroid carcinomas by aspiration biopsy-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (ABRP): A report of two cases

A preoperative molecular-based diagnostic technique for thyroid papillary and anaplastic carcinomas was recently developed to detect oncofetal fibronectin (onfFN) messenger RNA (mRNA) in fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) by means of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We report two cases of thyroid tumors, in which cytological diagnosis was not successful but in which RT-PCR analysis provided information that helped to identify the biological features of the tumors. One case could not be diagnosed by aspiration biopsy cytology (ABC) because of poor fixation; however, RT-PCR did detect the expression of onfFN mRNA, which suggested the existence of papillary carcinoma cells. After surgery, this tumor was diagnosed as a papillary carcinoma by histological examination. The other case was diagnosed as a papillary carcinoma by ABC, but onfFN mRNA was not detected in the FNAB by RT-PCR, The neoplasm was diagnosed as a follicular tumor by histological examination. These cases suggest the benefits of combining both genetic and cytological approaches to the examination of FNAB.